Donating to SPU |   053 491 0000 |   [email protected] |   Vacancies View current jobs |   Employee Portal

Chancellor: Saying goodbye to Prof Ballim

Sol Plaatje University Chancellor, Judge Steven Majiedt, bids farewell to the University’s first Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Yunus Ballim:

Prof Ballim has greatly endeared himself to us. He has truly embraced not only SPU but also Kimberley and the Northern Cape.

At his recent farewell dinner, the Chairperson of Council, Madam Justice Yvonne Mokgoro and I reached a consensus that Prof Ballim knows more about the Northern Cape than Justice Mokgoro and I together (and both of us were born and bred in the Northern Cape!).

This amazing feat can be ascribed to Prof Ballim’s outlook on life in general and on his calling in particular.

He is one of those unique individuals who was born to lead. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the renowned American poet and philosopher, famously said: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”.

That epitomises Prof Ballim, a great leader who not only helped conceive the concept of a university for the Northern Cape (as part of the Task Team), but also helped give birth to SPU and brought it up to where it is now, a singular beacon of excellence in our tertiary education landscape.

This institution’s remarkable academic results speak for themselves. In a sea of prophets of doom, naysayers, unabashed critics and cynical sceptics, we have not only survived the storms and headwinds, but we are firmly on course, in no small part due to the sterling efforts of a terrific helmsman.

The SPU Strategic Plan for 2020-2024, steered in large part by Prof Ballim, maps out our course post the Ballim era.

Its four main objectives are:

•          to strengthen research activities

•          to consolidate and sustain the institution’s focus on good quality teaching and learning

•          to develop SPU as a digitally empowered university

•          to ensure that the university is financially sustainable in the future.

A solid foundation has been laid for us to achieve these goals.

To repeat what I said at the farewell dinner: Prof Ballim is a leading expert in concrete and materials.

His doctoral thesis was: “Curing and the durability of concrete”. It entailed a comprehensive investigation into the effects of early age curing on the durability of concrete.

As I said then – Prof Ballim is a concrete example of the quintessential leader who leads by example and who walks he walk far more than he talks the talk.

With his unwavering commitment, selfless dedication and sterling leadership, we at SPU have been left with a durable legacy of excellence.

In his farewell message in last month’s edition, Prof Ballim touchingly quotes from an email which he sent out at the end of the first week of lectures at SPU during February 2014 to SPU staff, the then Interim Council and Department of Higher Education officials in which he said that “…it was individual and collective belief, by all involved, in the idea of a Sol Plaatje University, that made [the initial success] possible”.

In vintage Ballim style, he continued as follows in that email:

“The waters now are uncertain but the winds are favourable and the billowed sails look like puffed-up cheeks of smiling young students. Our compass is set to the star rising on the horizon”.

“All we can say to that is “aye-aye Captain, all hands are on deck”.

If in conclusion, I may adapt a moving speech made by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to his friend, Mahatma Gandi, whose life had just been taken in a shocking assassination: “In ages to come… people will think of this generation when this man…trod [at SPU] and will think of us who, however small, could also follow his path… Let us be worthy of him”.

Go well our dear leader, friend and inspiration.

You have laid a firm foundation, cast in the most durable concrete for us to continue to construct a solid, proud edifice of learning.

Our most sincere gratitude for your selfless service, far above and beyond the call of duty.

Your legacy will be immutable and enduring. We shall do our utmost to be worthy of you.

More to explore

SPU’s Varsity Shield Mascot Madness takes over the city

Gemmie and the SPU Cheerleading Squad On Monday, 3 February 2025, Sol Plaatje University (SPU) kicked off its Varsity Shield celebrations with an electrifying Mascot Madness activation. The event, aimed at rallying community support for SPU’s historic, first-ever qualification for

Something BIG is coming this Monday…

Kimberley, brace yourselves. This coming Monday, something loud is happening. Something bold. Something unforgettable. This isn’t just another Monday – it’s a day Kimberley and the entire Northern Cape will remember. For the first time ever, SPU has earned its